The Bodin Coat of Arms is quoted as "D'azur au chevron d'or, accompagné de trois roses du meme: au chef d'argent, chargé de trois merlettes du champ."** This would be translated as "Azure colored (bright blue) with a golden chevron, accompanied by three roses of the same color (gold), the silver band (band at the top) is charged (filled) by three blackbirds of the countryside."

Azure or blue signifies loyalty and truth. The band on the coat of arms could be a reward for either prudence and wisdom or some successful command in war. A chevron signifies protection and has been granted in arms as a reward to one who has achieved some noble enterprise. It is supposed to represent the rooftree of a house and has sometimes been given to those who have built churches or fortresses or accomplished some work or faithful service. Yellow or gold denoted generosity and elevation of the mind. A rose probably signifies providence, divination, love, beauty, purity, and passion. The blackbirds may represent that the first bearer of this coat of arms did not acquire it by way of inheritance or through some ancestral nobility but by his own merits and virtue or by his own exertions or patronage. It might have something to do with the number of enemies defeated in battle or a crusade.

Welcome to The Bodine Genealogy Website! I'm Dave Bodine and most likely I am not related to you. There are many Bodine lines on this site - not just mine. Ronny Bodine, from another line of Bodines, does most of the research for this site. Together, the both of us hope that you find the information listed here of use to you in your research on the Bodines. Use the Search Box above and/or the link above to the Name Index page to find the Bodines you are looking for. Send me any corrections and additions to BodineGenealogy@gmail.com. My appreciation also goes out to my son Sammy Bodine for many web design updates to this home page (he hopes to do more later). Thanks to all and enjoy.

Bodine Origins: Where are we from?

The Bodine name has its origin in France. There it is spelled Bodin and is quite common. I remember picking up some phone books while I've traveled in France to look for people named Bodin. I often found lots of them listed. Several important figures in French history carried the name Bodin. The most famous was Jean Bodin the philosopher (1530-1596) who is pictured to the left. Despite what some claim, it is highly unlikely that the American Bodines are in any way related to that Jean Bodin. It would be like saying you were related to the pirate Davy Jones just because you had the last name Jones. Proof of such relationships is needed before such claims can be made. We can confidently say there is NO proof that the American Bodines are related to the famous French philosopher. If that is true, the proof has not yet come to light.

There is a fraudulent genealogy going around that links the American Bodines to some famous Bodine-like names in France running back into the 1300's or so; however, there is absolutely no proof to back up this information. It appears to be the work of a 20th Century genealogist named Gustave Anjou (1863-1942). He was a Swede whose real name was Gustaf Ludvig Ljungberg. He fabricated pedigrees to please those who paid for his services. I think his research on the Bodines came through his work on the Corlies family. Trustworthy genealogical research on the American Bodines can really only be traced back, so far, to the Jean Bodines who came to America in the late 1600's. Anything before that is still uncertain.

It seems like some genealogists search for ways to link themselves to famous people and it doesn't matter if there isn't a shred of evidence to back up their wild claims. If someone needs such a link to be proud of their heritage, then that is already a sad testimony to their roots.

We can safely say that if your last name is Bodine, then most likely some ancestor of yours originally came from France (not in every case, though). However, few, if any, Bodines seem to have come directly from France to America. So far, almost all of the Bodines we have studied have come to America after first having passed through other countries like England, Holland and Germany. After leaving France, these Bodines may have spent only a short time in these other countries. Or they may have spent several generations there before making their way to America. The spelling of the Bodine name has also changed over time. Some families that started out as Bodines have now become Bordines, Burdines, Berdines, Budines, etc. However, it is not true that all or even most of those names started out as Bodine - only some did. Note that there are some Bodine lines that came to the USA from Italy, Poland and even Russia. Those Bodine families probably have no connection to France. And there are quite a few Bodine families who immigrated to the USA from Sweden in the late 1800's. They do not have a connection to France either. Their Bodin/Bodine name is based on Scandinavian naming customs and has to do with place names related to their geographical origin in Sweden.

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The Bodines from Flanders

One area where Bodines came from in France was at one time called Flanders. See the map to the left for the approximate location of where Flanders used to be located. I have drawn a green circle around the general area. Flanders was an ancient kingdom that no longer exists in the same form today. It was comprised of parts of what is today northern France, western Belgium, and southwest Holland.

By his betrothal record of December 26, 1679 at the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Flatbush (in New York City), we know that Jean Bodin (b. 1662), one of our early Bodine ancestors in America, was from near the town of Bethune in Artois (Artois was what the French then called that part of Flanders). His wife was listed as from Lille in Flanders. I did some research in Bethune and did not come up with any good connections to Bodines back in the 1600's. But close by Bethune is the town of Armentieres. It is marked by a red square on the map to the right. Research has shown that there were a number of Bodines from Armentieres, born there in the late 1500's, who later had moved to Holland. Some of the names were Peter, Abraham and Isaac. These are common names of the American Bodines, too. It is only a guess, but since the American Jean Bodin was from NEAR Bethune, and Bethune is only a few miles from Armentieres, then it is quite possible he was related to those Bodines from Armentieres. Whatever the case, the American Jean Bodin did come from the Bethune area. See the location of Bethune which is also marked on the map to the right. I have more on these Armentieres Bodins in the Archive Room at this site. They were a prominent family in Leiden (Holland) in the 1600's. The common names between this family and the American Bodines, the Protestant religion they both shared, and the close proximity of their origins in Northwest France make me believe that they are probably related.

The Bodines from M&eacutedis, France

A second area where we know Bodines came from in France was the small town of M&eacutedis. See the map to the left for the location of this town. My wife and I visited there in the 1990's. It is a small town in the countryside in a beautiful area of France. The Wikipedia entry for Medis doesn't have much, but it does say that it is a bastion of Protestantism. Jean Bodin (b. 1645), another American Bodine different from the one mentioned above, fled France on September 13, 1681 because he was persecuted for his Protestant faith. The location of his birth, Medis, is based upon the fact that having fled France, the French authorities noted his escape as "Boudin, fugitif de Medit, Election de Saintes" (Archives Nationales, Paris, TT No. 259). Medit is a previous spelling of Medis. Before fleeing France, he had lived in Soubize (Soubise) which was not too far north of Medis. See the towns marked by a red squares on the map on the right.

In 2009, Tom and Kathy Bodine wrote me about a trip Kathy had made to Medis, France (Tom is the son of George Willis Bodine). See the link to info from that trip in the Archives Page under Research in France to see some photos Kathy took and some research she did while on a three day visit to that area. There is some very interesting information, very possibly about the Jean Bodin who came to America, that she gathered while there. And there are some photos of a street in Medis which might have even been named after Jean or his family.

The map on the right is a close-up of the area where Medis is located today. The area is the Department of Charente-Maritime which was also a bastion of Protestanism in the 1600's. The web site "Protestant Memory" has this to say about that time:

In 1534, young monks in the saintongeais area, heard directly from Calvin himself, the speech he would pronounce at Angoulême and Poitiers.
Soon The Reform would be expounded in the southwest of the Saintonge region, in today's Arvert peninsula. Half a century later, the majority of the population was Protestant.

Faced with the spread of new ideas, the Royal power first seemed hesitant. Denouncements were encouraged by the Inquisition. The Parliaments of Paris and Bordeaux, under whose authority were the Aunis and Saintonge regions, were soon to pronounce the first death sentences. It was said that Marie Bécaudelle, a young maidservant educated in La Rochelle, had just been burnt at the stake at Essarts, in Bas-Poitou. In 1546, two of the monks who had introduced the Reform at Arvert and on the island of Oléron were burnt, one at Saintes, the other at Libourne. New Lutheran converts were reported on the Arvert peninsula. In 1553, the pastor Philibert Hamelin, co-founder of the Reformed Church of Saintes, preached at Arvert. He was arrested, imprisoned, taken to Saintes and then to Bordeaux. He would be sentenced to be burnt at the stake for heresy and for "error."

The Reform extended over the entire territory. From 1620 to 1622, Royan was under the sole authority of The Reform. Later, the King's administrator speaking of what is currently the Pays royannais, would stress that at Arvert and La Tremblade: "The Catholic religion was hardly known, since the pretended reformed religion is so much in vogue and in authority."

Promulgated in 1598, the Edict of Nantes was now applied rigorously, which meant in the most restrictive way. In 1628, public practice of the Protestant religion was forbidden on Ile-d'Oléron. In 1630, Île-de-Ré was struck by the same measures. In 1633 and 1640, they reached the towns of Saujon and Marennes, in the Pays de Marennes-Oléron. In 1644, Arvert and Royan were the object of the royal prohibition. In 1658, Marsilly, in the north west of the Département, experienced these restrictions in turn. The Pastors fled their parishes. At La Rochelle 2200 Huguenots, set up there since the Siege, were sentenced to "vacate the town."

A few years before the Edict of Nantes was revoked, persecutions against the Protestants had started again. The King's Dragoons, these "missionaries in boots" who sowed terror where they went, were marching on Arvert. The temples were demolished. First Arvert, then Marennes, lost their places of worship in 1684. In 1685, the pastor of Marennes took to sea. Many sailors from the saintonge area had already left for England and Holland. As of 1681, the people of Charente-Maritime, wholesalers, bargemen and "people of modest means," had organized their escape (end of info from "Protestant Memory").

It was a time of extreme religious intolerance. Religious "freedom," as it was in France at that time, was about to come to an end. Jean Bodin and his wife would soon have to escape from France on their way to making a new life for themselves in England, then America.

I have put some links below to some locations and civic organizations associated with various Bodines in the United States.
Click on the links in each section below to find out more about those and/or that Bodine family.

Dongan Manor, Castleton (as formerly known), Staten Island, New York City, New York

The Dongan Manor was the home of Governor Thomas Dongan of the Province of New York (served 1683-1688). He was one of the earliest governors of New York. The governor first granted the land to a friend, John (and Sarah) Palmer, on March 31, 1687. This was known as the Palmer or Dongan Patent. On April 16, the governor then bought the land from Palmer. The next year, Dongan built the manor house and began developing the land and a mill which stood on the property not too far from the house. The picture here does not show the original look of the house. This was made after the house had undergone a lot of renovation and "modernization." The house passed through the hands of some Dongan relatives before it ended up in the possession of John V. Bodine, Jr. (1781-1831). John Bodine was married at the Dutch Reformed Church of Port Richmond to Elizabeth Cruser, the granddaughter of Cornelius Cruser, of Castleton, in whose will of July 1, 1807 she was named as Elizabeth, wife of John Bodine (Richmond Co. Wills A: 369).

John (known as "Squire John") owned considerable property on the North Shore of Staten Island, among which was the mill, and the pond, and the land east of it, including the old Dongan Manor house mentioned above. He subsequently sold the manor to his father who died in that house in 1835. Unfortunately, the manor was destroyed by fire on Christmas 1878. Nothing remains now. There is a Bodine Street in Port Richmond named after this Bodine family. It is where the manor used to be. It was located between Bodine Street on the west, Dongan Street on the east, Richmond Terrace (the Shore Road) on the north, and Cedar Street on the south. Other names in the area associated with this family are Bodine's Creek, Bodine's Pond, Bodine's Mill, and Bodine's Orchard.

The Metlar-Bodine House is on the U.S. and New Jersey Registers of Historic Places. It is a colonial-era home from the early 1700's built by Peter Bodine (abt. 1690 - aft. 1749). See the official web site for more information. From this web site, I copy the following: "His small one room home, with sleeping loft and root cellar, was built in 1728 on a bluff along The Great Road Up the Raritan (today's River Road), about 1/4 mile from his warehouse. The busy commercial center survived numerous British incursions and several battles during the Revolutionary War, thriving until the early 19th century when it was overshadowed by New Brunswick, a boom town and county seat, boasting an interstate canal and railroad connection on the southwest side of the river. The Bodine House passed through a number of owners before it was expanded in the 1850s and named Sunnyside by George Knapp, a New Brunswick businessman. This Greek Revival addition, with its lovely front porch and circular attic window, and a Victorian style rehabilitation twenty years later, significantly improved the property. The entrepreneur George Metlar was a Central New Jersey real estate magnate who, by the late 1800s, owned thousands of acres in Piscataway. In 1890 he purchased Sunnyside allowing his farm manager, John Mason, to reside there. In 1914, George's son, John, inherited the house and one-third of his father's real estate holdings. John and his family moved in, his wife re-christening the home Metlar House when it became a trolley-stop for the light rail running along the River Road corridor. In the 1950s John sold Metlar House to John Newton, a Rutgers University professor. Dr. Newton appreciated the home's history and wrote the nomination that placed the site on the State and National Registers."

Notice on the map below, circled in red, the location of two Bodine houses in Raritan Landing: Peter Bodine (mentioned above) and John Bodine. John Bodine is Peter's son and was also a trader like his father. The map is from a Rutgers University collection online.

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Bodine Farmhouse on Wallkill Road, north of the village of Walden, Montgomery, Orange County, New York

The Wikipedia article on the Bodine Farmhouse says it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. It also says this: "The Bodine Farmstead was possibly built in 1769 by William Bodine, the grandson of Jean Bodine [Note from Dave: We do not know that William Bodine was Jean Bodine's grandson.], but the record of his birth has not been found. He was granted a large tract of land of over 3,000 acres in the Town of Montgomery, outside the village of Walden, and his homestead was built in 1769 and occupied by several generations of his descendants. The last was Hillah Terbell in about 1908." The Wikipedia article is not specific, but it seems to say this farmhouse was built by the William Bodine who was born about 1710. It seems more likely that it was built by that William's son, William Bodine (1738-1802). The farmhouse is located at 50 Wallkill Road north of Walden. It is also known as the Bodine-Terbell Farmhouse.

DNA testing does show that this Bodine family was somehow related to the Jean Bodin from Medis, France; however, that relationship is still unclear. Maybe William is Jean's grandson or a great-grandson. Or the relationship between them connects back before Jean Bodin was born.

Bodine's Tavern was owned by Captain John Bodine (1747-1827). I have found no image of this tavern, but I have found an old cider jug for sale online with a purported image of the tavern. The info about the image says the cider jug "shows a few ghoulish horse boys with horses, Jersey Devil in a tree, someone hanging in the attic rafters, ghouls in the windows, Dutch onion bottles, jugs, etc." According to info on the Bass River History site, Bodine's Tavern was "the first official stop of the Tuckerton stage as it journeyed up the old Philadelphia Road." John Bodine, who became a captain in the Revolutionary War, opened up the tavern after the War and it became one of the best known inns of the area. It seems like all of John's children were born at the inn on the Wading River. Nothing remains of the tavern anymore except a depression in the ground where the cellar once was, and some bricks and stones. Bodine's Bridge is nearby. It got its name from the tavern which was still standing when its predecessor bridges were first built. To locate the remains of the inn, I found this on a blog: "When you pull into the entrance to the Bodine Field camping area, park off to your right close to the Wading River. Walk along the Wading and you should see it, the cellar hole of it at least. It is very close to the river. You'll know when you're there because there is a cedar tree that has a few stones encased around its trunk." Another webpage says this: "It is interesting to note that, while the Bodine Tavern cellar hole is in Bass River Township today, the tavern never operated within the jurisdiction of Bass River Township. It was located in Little Egg Harbor when it was built, and then became a part of Washington Township in 1802 when that township was formed from Little Egg Harbor Township. Fittingly, the first Washington Township governmental meeting was held in Bodine's Tavern with John Bodine being elected to the first Township Committee. Finally, in 1864, the Bodine Tavern area became a part of Bass River Township when the boundaries in that area were again realigned."

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Village of Bodines, Lewis Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

This town has also gone by the name Bodinesville at one time. The following comes from History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania: "Another early settler on Lycoming creek was John Bodine. He came there in April, 1838, and was employed as a contractor in laying the track of the 'strap railroad' between Bodines and Ralston. When the work was finished he settled there and his place came to be known as Bodines, a name which it bears to this day. His son, Samuel Bodine, born June 12, 1814, near Allentown, Pennsylvania, followed his father in 1839, and remained. He now ranks as an old settler. John Bodine was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, in 1785, and died at his home in 1857." From my records, John W. Bodine was actually born in 1788 and died in 1858. He was married to Barbara Smithgall in 1809. Barbara's house in Muncy, Pennsylvania was recently converted into a Bed & Breakfast. That B&B may not be open now, but formerly its web site said of the house, "Built in 1805, The Bodine House has been authentically restored and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of the furnishings throughout the house are antiques." The owner at that time, David Smith, wrote me that the house got its name because there were reportedly six or seven generations of Bodine relatives that lived in the house they purchased in 1978. Most weren't named Bodine, however, because the house was passed down through daughters, not the sons. The first Bodine to live here was Barbara Bodine who came circa 1863 from somewhere in northern Pennsylvania. David said that there is a town named "Bodines" north of the Bodine House along State Route 14. Other "Bodine" names in the area are Bodine Mountain and Bodine Mountain Road.

Bodine Cemetery has exclusively served the extended Bodine family from the time they arrived in Brown's Valley beginning around 1830. It is a small cemetery occupying less than an acre of pastoral hillside near Guntersville. In addition to the Bodine name, others family names include Burk, Colbert, Copeland, Cosby, Cox, Deerman, Kirkland, Lee, McCollum, McWhorter, and Moon.

Although, James Bodine (1793-1836) was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, he grew up in Fairfax County. That area was taken to form Fairfax County in 1796. They moved to Sevier County, Tennessee about 1818 and settled on Flat Creek north of Sevierville. About 1827-1830, he migrated to that part of Jackson County, Alabama below the Tennessee River that was situated north of the Cherokee Indian Boundary. The treaty of 1816 with the Cherokees established their territory below the watershed of the Tennessee and Black Warrior River headwaters, this being the Locust Fork branch of the Warrior. Catherine (Butler) Bodine, daughter of Henry Butler, lived the rest of her life in Marshall County. In 1850, aged 58, she headed a household that included her children William and Sarah. In 1860, aged 65, she lived in the home of her son William. In 1870, aged 74, she lived with her daughter Sarah Collins and in 1880, aged 84, she was again living with her son William. The Guntersville "Democrat" in Dec 1880 reported that Catherine Bodine died on 26 Nov 1880, aged 86 years, at the residence of her son William Bodine.

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Bodine College, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Bodine College is named after James Morrison Bodine, M.D. (1831-1915). I quote the following from a University of Louisville web site: "James Bodine was born in Fairfield, in Nelson County, Kentucky, on October 2, 1831. His father, Dr. Alfred Bodine, and mother, Fannie Maria Ray Bodine, came from distinguished pioneer families and were known for great intelligence and character. After primary education in Fairfield, he graduated from Hanover College in Indiana. He began medical studies as an apprentice to Professor Henry M. Bullitt, M.D., a founder of the Kentucky School of Medicine in Louisville, and he graduated from that school in March 1854. He married Mary Elizabeth Crowe in December 1855, and they moved to the Kansas territory. There, his practice thrived, and he established the first hospital in the territory. Also, he was elected the first President of the Kansas Territory Medical Society. In 1863, he returned to Louisville when appointed Chair of Anatomy in the Kentucky School of Medicine, where he demonstrated outstanding teaching skills. In 1866, the Kentucky School of Medicine and University of Louisville Medical Department temporarily merged. Although this lasted only a year, Bodine remained at UofL as Chair of Anatomy, a position he served until 1912."

"James Morrison Bodine, M.D. (1831-1915) was the longest-serving Dean of the University of Louisville, a highly acclaimed teacher, and a most picturesque character in Kentucky medical history. In a school known for great anatomists, he was among the most renowned, and his pioneering studies on eye anatomy helped found the specialty of ophthalmology. During his 40-year UofL Deanship, his remarkable leadership skills brought great curricular improvements and guided the School of Medicine though turbulent times to create the modern UofL. In 1907 through 1909, his leadership and diplomacy skills again served in guiding merger of Louisville's five medical schools into one, the modern University of Louisville. Recognition of this significant contribution came in form of election as President of the merged faculty, a position he held until retirement in 1913. The University and city he served so well expressed great accolades upon his retirement, and again on his death in 1915. The School of Medicine is proud of the legacy of Dr. James Morrison Bodine, and has named this college in his honor."

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Bodine High School for International Affairs, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Bodine High School for International Affairs is named after William Warden Bodine, Jr. (1918-1983). William was a descendant of the Revolutionary War soldier, Captain John Bodine, mentioned earlier in this section. Here are some excerpts from his obituary from the Philadelphia Inquirer of August 12, 1983.

William W. Bodine Jr., 65, one of Philadelphia's leading civic figures, died yesterday of cancer at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He lived at Cambria in Villanova. He was a sportsman and war hero in his youth and went on to make his mark in the political, business and civic worlds. In the process, he became a man who knew the world and its leaders. He met them on a first-name basis. During his life, he was active in numerous organizations. He was chairman of the board of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, an organization that he helped shape into a world forum, and he was an officer of 25 other major organizations.

He succeeded in winning approval for a school of international affairs, a school where students could be trained for diplomatic work. Working with the Philadelphia public school system, the World Affairs Council mapped a curriculum for the first such school in the world. The old Jefferson Elementary School at Fourth and George Streets was refurbished as a magnet school and opened its doors two years ago. Its opening meant far more to him than the calls from Air Force One and the chance to chat with Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy or Willy Brandt, the former chancellor of West Germany. And the scholarships that took four students abroad this year, plus the opportunity for students to work as interns in diplomatic roles starting next year, added to his pleasure. He was a superb organizer, a man who could find a time and a place for everything. He was as enthusiastic about civic work as most men are about their sports and hobbies, friends said. For him, civic work was an obligation, friends said.

He was raised at Oakwell, the family estate in Villanova, the son of William Warden Bodine, a lawyer who held major interests in banking, insurance, utilities and concrete, served as president of a number of civic and charitable organizations, and gave time and money to the Republican Party. As his father had 23 years earlier, he enlisted in the 108th Field Artillery after study at Harvard and, like his father, he was soon sent overseas to fight in Europe. As the commander of a tank-destroyer unit, the 6-foot, 200-pound former polo player took his men on a sweep through the Low Countries until they reached the Malmedy sector near the Belgium-Luxembourg line. Near the middle of a 26-mile-long line held by the 28th Division, he and his men battered the Siegfried Line with sustained fire. But the continuing bombardment was broken by attacking Panzer units followed by German infantry; the Battle of the Bulge was on. Lt. Col. Bodine and many of the men who he led were taken prisoner near St. Vith. Some men were lost in the massacre in the Malmedy Woods. Others, including the colonel, were loaded onto boxcars, bound for prisoner-of-war camps. Although he was wounded in the process, Mr. Bodine escaped, made it back across the Allied lines and was hospitalized for five months. He was then assigned to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's staff and awarded the Purple Heart, Legion of Merit and the Croix de Guerre with Palm.

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The Bodine School in Memphis, Tennessee

The Bodine School was established in 1972 by Richard and Virginia Bodine in memory of their only son, Rick. The school's web site says the following, "While attending The Mills School in Florida due to the lack of resources for learning disabled students in the Memphis area, Rick had a fatal accident. Honoring his memory became a mission of the Bodine family, and establishing the school allowed families in the Mid-South area to send their child with dyslexia to a local school. The decision to establish a facility in Memphis was also based on the interest, involvement and work of many lay and professional people who recognized the needs of the area students. Today, Bodine School remains the only school in the Mid-South and in all of Tennessee that is solely committed to teaching children with dyslexia and other reading-related learning differences to read and succeed."

Click on either of the links below to see some of the Bodine data published to this site. These are only some of the Bodine lines at this site. Some other main ones are listed on the Ten Most Wanted page. And others can be found by doing searches on the Name Index page.

1. Jean Bodin of Medis (b. May 9, 1645). This Jean Bodin was born, it is said, in Medis, a village in the Canton of Saujon, District of Saintes, then located in the former French province of Saintonge, on May 9, 1645, based upon "a tradition universal in the family." This "traditional" statement is set forth by Mary Elisabeth Sinnott in her genealogical work, Annals of the Sinnott, Rogers, Coffin, Corlies, Reeves, Bodine and Allied Families (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1905), p. 154. She does not state how this tradition came about. The year 1645 was noted earlier in E. P. Bodine's History of the Branch of the Bodine Family Founded by Cornelius Bodine, (Buffalo, 1897), p. 6 and in Biographical, Genealogical and descriptive History of the First Congressional District of New Jersey (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1900), ii, p. 283. The date May 9, 1645 was repeated, subsequent to Sinnott's publication, in Genealogical and Memorial History of the State of New Jersey (Lee, Francis Bazely, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910), iv, p. 1368, all of whom cited no references. No original source for this claim has yet been found. The location of his birth, Medis, appears to have some basis in fact. Upon having fled France, the French authorities noted his escape as "Boudin, fugitif de Medit, Election de Saintes" (Archives Nationales, Paris, TT No. 259).

Jean and Esther Bodin first removed to Soubize, a small village in the Canton of St. Agnant, District of Rochefort-sur-Mer. Accompanied by his wife, Esther, he fled his native country on Saturday, September 13, 1681, a date noted in the financial aid records of the Threadneedle Street Church in London.

The arrival in America of Jean Bodin can be ascertained only by June 19, 1701, when Jean Bodin, as a resident of Middlesex County, in the Province of East Jersey, purchased an 80 acre tract of land on Staten Island, New York from Johannes and Neeltje Messereau. Middlesex County was situated just across Hudson Bay from Staten Island.

It would appear from probate records that Jean Bodin, now better known as John Bodine, died shortly before March 24, 1708. His death likely occured shortly before January 3, 1708 when his will was noted in New York Calendar of Land Papers, iv (1704-1709), p. 81. For more information on this Jean Bodin, see his gorup sheet and Notes page. My appreciation to Ronny Bodine for the introductory information on his ancestor, Jean Bodin.

2. Jean Bodin of Bethune (b. about 1662). This other Jean Bodin was born near Bethune, France about 1662. This date is not certain, but then there isn't a whole lot about this Jean that is. He is most likely the Jean Bodin who was mentioned in the "1706" Staten Island Census as being 45 years old. It is doubtful that any other Jean Bodin on Staten Island at that time could have been anywhere near 45 other than Jean of Bethune. A lot of educated guesses have to be made in regard to his immediate family. I think much of this information is probably pretty accurate, but quite a bit is still uncertain. Hopefully, more evidence and investigation will shed further light on the subject. His father may have been another Jean Bodin (Jean I) who died on Staten Island before March 4, 1695. This is shown by his estate administration there. "Jean I" mainly owed money to a Paul Richards. Richards was appointed the administrator of Jean I's estate on March 4, 1694/5 (NY Wills, Book 5, p. 101).

Jean of Bethune (we will call him "Jean II") first married Mary Crocheron. They were betrothed (engaged) on December 26, 1679. Jean and Mary then married a couple of weeks later on January 11, 1680 in Midwout (an area in what is now Brooklyn, New York). For references to this marriage, see the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, v. 111 - 1980, n. 1, p. 35 and a small abstract in the Year Book of the Holland Society of New York, 1898, p. 88.

3. William Bodine of Orange Co., NY (b. about 1710). Ronny Bodine has put this family together from scattered orphan lines of Bodines located in Ulster and Orange Counties, New York. DNA testing from 2008 seems to show that this William Bodine is somehow related to Jean Bodin of Medis, France. Maybe they had a common ancestor back in France or maybe William is a descendant of Jean Bodin. The connection remains unclear at this point.

Ronny writes, "The name of William Bodine has been used as the earliest ancestor of this family, yet, there has been no evidence that this man actually existed. A large number of Bodines appear in Orange County around the 1750s, many of roughly the same age, and in all liklihood many are siblings, though their precise relationships to each other remain unproven. Many Bodines served as sponsors to the baptisms of the children of other Bodines at the Brick Reformed Church of Montgomery in Orange County, yet, one is unclear if these sponsors were siblings, nephew or nieces, or cousins. Onomastically speaking, there is no doubt they all originate from one family. For the sake of convenience, it is here assumed that the progenitor was indeed a William Bodine and that the named children were his, until evidence can be found that refutes this. No Bodines are included in the lengthy militia lists of the 1730s and 1740s when they should have been, leaving the question if they were indeed present in the Orange-Ulster County area."

Ronny has done a lot of new research on the Orange and Ulster County, New York Bodines. See the latest information on them and see if you can add anything that might be missing or give more clues to figuring out this enigmatic line of Bodines.

Searching this site: PLEASE READ!

If you are searching for a person's name, the best way to do that is to click on the link to "Name Index" at the top and/or bottom of most of these web pages. This will take you to a complete list of names found at this site. Click on the name that interests you to go to the appropriate page. Try to come up with the most generic spelling of a person's given (first) name. For instance, if you can't find "Frank Bodine," look under "Francis Bodine." If you can't find "Fannie Bodine," look under "Frances Bodine." If you can't find "Margaretta Bodine," look under "Margaret Bodine." The Name Index page is pretty large and may take some time to download; so be patient. If you are looking for a place name or something else besides a person's name, then use the FreeFind search engine at the top of this page.

Note: Personal information about people who are or might still be living is not shown in the data pages at this site. I have used a genealogy program called Brother's Keeper (version 7.1.17) to convert the genealogy data into web pages. Pages are listed in the form of a family group sheet. This is an easy-to-read format that many genealogists know and understand.You are visitor
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